There's a reason why that wawa closed. Does any council member remember the problems at that corner when a store occupied it. The last thing the neighborhood needs is a store on that corner again. If wawa couldnt make it then no other store will. I think we should make the council members live next door to this new store, then after a year, see how they like it. I hope they plan on increasing the police patrols in this area

There is something wrong with our very christian community, if we cant have a store because of crime problems. Really. Crime problems. Perhaps we should address the underlying problem before we build anything there!!

Can I ask what makes ocean city a "very Christian community" ? And what that even has to do with anything ?
Oh and I'm not sure how it hasn't been mentioned yet but the famous Jeff Quinten reality team has an agreement to purchase the wawa property no matter how it is zoned and will have duplexes there by the summer..bet on it

I continue to be frustrated by what appears to be a very wrong-minded approach to current zoning. Unless I am misunderstanding recent rulings, the city is not taking seriously the value of reasonably-sized single family homes that minimize impervious ground cover and maximize lawns that help with drainage issues. Nor does it seem to appreciate the value of single family homes that attract those who do not wish to rent, but rather to become interested and active members of the community. Do we really want to continue to add more and more duplexes? I guess so... too bad.

To clear the air, This neighborhood is made up of primarily owner occupied units. There are only a very few rentals on these two blocks. On the blocks closer to the beach you have far more duplex rentals because the people buying them really can afford to keep them without the rental income. In this area it is not the case as most of the units are are more reasonably priced and as such are used year round by the owners.

Having lived both with and without the Wawa I can honestly say that I understand how one might argue for AND against a store on the corner. I can understand that a small convenience store would be just that, convenient. Many people in the general area would be able to walk or bike to the store for a one or two item trip; people might stop by to buy coffee, breakfast or lunch, etc. But I also understand all too well the negative impact a store has had on the neighborhood. The Wawa wasn't closed for lack of customers - it was closed due to CRIME. If we are trying to attract more families to up and coming neighborhoods - which this one is, I don't know how a store is an asset to the neighborhood. If it were policed better and wasn't allowed to be a hang out perhaps it would work, especially if it were only open until the evening much like a deli. Once Wawa sells the property with a lifted deed restriction there is no going back.

You have to hand it to the spin meisters here. They always manage to keep the conversation off of the real issue. This was and always has been about the money to be made from developing the Wawa property which they've been trying to do for years now (first in council and then in the zoning board) and to a lesser extent the property owners in that neighborhood who own non-conforming properties and want that block (and their non-conforming properteis) rezoned. If crime was the issue that could have been easy to remedied with a stronger police presence, something that is certainly within the cpability of our police department.. Wawa will now sell the property and the deed restrtictions will finally be lifted. Why? Because they'll get what they want for it zoned residential.
And there will never again be a convenience store at that location.

Eric, what are you smoking? BLDShamrock and I stand to gain nothing from the development of that corner. If you don't live in this neighborhood, you have no idea what your talking about. Here's some spin for you, we who live here don't need the crime and bullshit that has gone on with this property in the past. I don't care if the property is ever sold. In fact it could sit as a parking lot for eternity, but we just don't want a loitering area for criminals. As for stronger police presence, I'll believe that when I see it because it didn't seem to do much or last very long in the past.
Lastly, the entire 400 block of west ave is just about all residential. So why wouldn't they rezone it. Trust me, it's been rezoned, even if it doesn't show on paper.

Eric, Richard is absolutely right...he and I and our neighbors stand to gain nothing but quality of life from this being rezoned. As I stated in my last comment a small corner store/deli with limited evening hours would be nice and yes, as you stated the crime issue can be handled if enough people do their part to report issues not accept them as part of life in this neighborhood. Young families have moved to this area and made it their year round residence . They shop in the stores on Asbury and the like and their children go to school here. When Councilman Hartell went door to door speaking to the people of the neighborhood they were against the multiple storefronts that were proposed yet it seems that even this compromise has you in an uproar. Perhaps looking at quality of life is not your goal and that is your right but it is others' right to do just that and I think that is being missed in your (and some ofthers') perspecitve.

I’m sorry but I don’t believe in re-zoning blocks of town by variance. In the past use variances have been handed out like candy on Halloween. So many in fact that the last commercial property on a block originally zoned for commercial (mixed use) is now odd man out. In the words of a council member we can now “complete that block”. Maybe you don’t see a problem with that method of zoning but I do.

I can accept your argument that it’s a quality of life issue for you and I can accept that you personally will not financially benefit from the re-development of that site. But if crime is the problem it is crime that should be addressed. You don’t re-zone a block because there’s a crime problem. If it’s that bad maybe they should have put a police satellite station there. And property owners who own non-conforming properties will financially benefit from having their properties re-zoned (along with the Wawa site). It will increase the value of their property. I’m not against those property owners but I don’t think we should be zoning for that purpose.

The people who were behind this from the start are the developers and realtors. Their interest is not your quality of life. It’s their quality of life. Me personally? I like having a store I can walk to.

We have no need for land use laws here. We don’t need to waste time on planning. We only need to ask each neighborhood “How do you want YOUR block zoned?”

Oe perhaps more accurately ask the development community how they want Ocean City re-zoned since it appears that that was the approach taken to the master plan re-exam.

Eric, you seem to harbor a great deal of hostility in a matter that does not impact your quality of life either. You have mentioned in the past how much you miss the businesses that were formerly in your neighborhood; did those businesses leave because of their financial situation ? did they leave because at that time they had the right to sell and took advantage of a high market value ? or did they close because of multimple strong arm robberies, muggings, etc ? such as the Wawa. There are a lot of good people in our neighborhood and perhaps your idea of a Police substation would be nice but the crime is not what it used to be through the vigilance of myself and my neighbors who do not rent, as you implied previously, and don't intend to go anywhere. The children in our neighborhood deserve the same quality of life as those in any other neighborhood and if we lose focus on that then we all lose.

I wasn't aware that profit and capitalism was such a dirty thing in OC. Of course developers want profit, but apparently the profit is not so good since the property that's half built directly across the street has sat for years dilapidating without a buyer.
I'll still to my previous statement. This block was rezoned years ago, regardless of you likes it or not. This vote is just a piece of paper. As far as my property value, it's only gone down. And I don't care because I am NOT selling. PERIOD.

Forgive typos. Typing on this iPhone is murder.

And let's hope this storm misses us or the whole island might get rezoned.

I feel no hostility towards anyone. I’m simply pointing out (what are to me) the facts and attempting to debunk the spin. There will always be a reason for making money off of development here. What we’re now being told is that building two 3 story units on one lot will increase residency in Ocean City. Do you believe that one too? Maybe it will and maybe it won’t but I think the objective is to allow for more housing to be built in less and less space.

I never implied that housing on that block is used for rentals. My understanding is that it has a year around population. At least that’s what I’ve been told.

As for my neighborhood, Campbell’s Seafood did a great business. The problem is the land was zoned to allow for multi-family development. Consequently the land was sold for over $3 mill and there are now vacant duplexes sitting there 9 months out of the year. That’s a lot of fish no? Was it good for my neighborhood? Heck no. Had the zoning not supported it we’d still have commercial there.

You misunderstand me. And I’ll repeat what I stated before. If crime is the problem then enforcement is the solution. Not re-zoning.

Let’s just call it for what it is, OK? As for dimished property values that's happening everywhere. And it's only going to get worse the more housing we build here.

When was the last time anyone was in that wawa? What did they leave it like inside?

also, what was the condition of the structure?

It was rezoned for duplex. I think there might be commercial space below residential on a 40 foot lot around the corner. At least that's what they were talking about ...